Alan Stewart’s UK and Ireland family history news

UK maritime BMD records now online

New maritime birth, marriage and death records from the UK National Archives have been made available online.

The family history website Find My Past UK has published two new sets of records, which include information about the passengers and crew aboard the Titanic’s ill-fated maiden voyage in 1912. The maritime birth, marriage and death records and White Star Line officers’ books are both available now.

Debra Chatfield, family historian at Find My Past UK, says: “These fantastic new additions will be of immense value not only to people with ancestors who were employed at sea, but also to anyone who has been struggling to find a record of an ancestor’s birth, marriage or death. There has never been a single centralised register of births, marriages and deaths at sea, so many of the names listed in these records will not appear in the information already available online.”

Maritime births, marriages and deaths

Find My Past says: “Search for your ancestors in vivid full-colour scans of the original documents recording births, marriages and deaths at sea. In addition to these, births, marriages and deaths associated with seafaring occupations are recorded – not just events that took place at sea. The maritime death records include a list of the Titanic crew members and passengers who died at sea.

“Our new online collection is published in association with The National Archives and brings together 30 different record types from 10 different record series held at The National Archives.

Types of records, number and date range

Births – 38,990 records covering the years 1867-1960

Marriages – 37,538 records covering the years 1854-1972

Deaths – 949,890 records covering the years 1794-1964

“The information the records contain will vary, but they will usually include a combination of the following:

Births: Child’s name, date of birth, place of birth (could be a ship name), father’s name, father’s rank, father’s place of birth, father’s last address, mother’s name, mother’s place of birth, mother’s last address.

Deaths: Name, rank, age, date of death, place of death (could be a ship name), cause of death, last address, place of birth.

White Star Line officers’ books

“View full colour scans of the original service records of White Star Line officers and commanders, including all the officers on board the Titanic. The collection comprises 1,042 records covering the years 1868 – 1934.

“Ron Warwick, a now-retired former employee (and former ship’s captain) of White Star Line, rescued the books when they were being thrown out by the company.

“The information for each officer includes date and place of birth, address, details of his apprenticeship, the names and dates of the ships served upon and the date he left the company.

“The White Star Line officers’ books include an original colour scan of the Titanic’s Captain Edward Smith’s employment record, listing all the ships he served on and when. You can also see the note in red ink which tells us he was ‘Lost in Titanic Apl 15th, 1912′.”